Saskatoon police look to add more interpreters to bridge growing language gap

Saskatoon is growing and so too are the number of languages spoken in the city.
 
It’s why the Saskatoon Police Service is looking to add more interpreters to its team.
 
“We use so many different languages: Urdu, Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin. Now what we need are languages we haven’t seen. French, we need more African languages, eastern European languages, our aboriginal languages, deaf and hard of hearing language,” Constable Matt Maloney said Thursday on the Brent Loucks Show.

The police service has been using interpreters since 2011 to help officers overcome language barriers during criminal investigations or to simply help a new comer understand the city’s laws.
 
The program has done more than just improve communication between police and newcomers to the city, Maloney said.
 
“They’ve not only did that. They’ve bridged such a great thing for our community … they brought their community to us. That’s been the payoff for us.”
 
He said when the program started they were using three to five interpreters per month. They now require seven to 10.

Translators are put under contract by SPS and are called out when needed.
 
People interested in applying need to be able to read, write and speak in both English and their target language.